On this page, you will find a brief overview of the events leading to the establishment of the Stichting Individuele Verzekeringsaanspraken Sjoa (hereafter Stichting Sjoa).
For more information, please refer to the book “Fighting for Justice” (2015) by Regina Grüter.
Looting
During World War II, the German occupier systematically looted possessions of Jewish Dutch citizens, including life insurance. On May 21, 1942, the Second Liro Decree came into force, requiring Jews to hand over their life insurances to the German “looting bank” Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co. Sarphatistraat (abbreviated Liro). More than a year later, Decree 54/1943 determined that life insurances of Jews with an insured value of more than 500 guilders had to be terminated on June 30, 1943. Insurers were forced to pay the surrender values of these policies to Liro, which collected more than 26 million guilders.
Liberation
The Dutch government in London was already preparing for post-war restitution during the occupation. The Occupation Measures Decree (Besluit Bezettingsmaatregelen) of September 17, 1944, declared anti-Jewish property decrees invalid.
After the liberation, it became clear that most Jewish policyholders were no longer alive. Because the surrender of these policies was not valid according to the Occupation Measures Decree, insurers had to pay these policies to the heirs. Insurers resisted: they had to pay the policies to Liro during the war and did not want to pay twice.
Restitution
The resistance of the insurers led to a series of lawsuits at the Council for Legal Redress (Raad voor het Rechtsherstel) from 1946 to 1949. Most of these cases were decided in favor of the heirs. As a result, a system of amicable restitution was established. Insurers could reclaim the surrender values from Liro and pay the policies to the heirs.
Not all policies were claimed by the heirs. According to the Dutch Civil Code, unclaimed policies as unmanaged estates were allocated to the State of the Netherlands. The State and insurers concluded the Veegens Agreement in 1954. This agreement stipulated that insurers would pay the surrender values of unclaimed policies to the State. If heirs later came forward, the State would refund the surrender value to the insurer, who would then pay the policy to the heirs. This continued into the 1960s.
Scholten Commission
In the 1990s, the looting and restitution of Jewish assets came back into focus. The Scholten Commission published the “Final Report of the Supervisory Commission on the Investigation of WWII Financial Assets in the Netherlands” (Eindrapport van de Begeleidingscommissie onderzoek financiële tegoeden WO-II in Nederland) in 1999 on the “restitution of financial assets of World War II victims at banks and insurers in the Netherlands”. The commission concluded that the restitution of life insurances of Jewish Dutch citizens started slowly but eventually proceeded carefully and without serious defects.
However, some policies fell outside the restitution process, particularly funeral insurances and policies not registered with Liro. The value of these policies unintentionally remained with insurers. Therefore, the committee advised the Association of Insurers to make a “gesture” towards the Jewish community.
Stichting Sjoa
That gesture came on November 8, 1999, when the Dutch Association of Insurers (Verbond van Verzekeraars) and the Central Jewish Conference (Centraal Joods Overleg) concluded the “Agreement on a definitive and final settlement of insurances of World War II victims persecuted for being Jewish” (Overeenkomst inzake een definitieve en finale regeling van verzekeringen van door de Tweede Wereldoorlog getroffen verzekerden die vervolgd zijn op grond van hun Jood zijn). The involved insurers made 50 million guilders available. Of this amount, 25 million was designated for purposes determined by the Central Jewish Consultation, 5 million for the Jewish Monument website, and 20 million for payments to individual heirs.
For these individual payments, the Shoah Foundation for Individual Insurance Claims (Stichting Individuele Verzekeringsaanspraken Sjoa or Stichting Sjoa) was established on November 9, 1999. The foundation would process applications from heirs until January 1, 2010. After that, two-thirds of the remaining assets of the foundation would be distributed to the Jewish community and one-third to the Association of Insurers.
The Stichting Sjoa turned out to meet a great need. By 2024, more than 23,500 applications had been submitted. This resulted in over 15,500 payments totaling 9.1 million euros.
Due to this need and the international opinion that Jewish war claims should continue to be addressed, the foundation’s term has been extended several times: in 2010, 2015, and 2020, each time by five years and in 2025 by two years. The foundation will process applications until December 31, 2026.
In 2014, two-thirds of the foundation’s assets were paid to the Jewish community through the Foundation for Collective Maror Funds in the Netherlands (Stichting Collectieve Maror-gelden Nederland) and the Foundation for Collective Maror Funds in Israel (Stichting Collectieve Maror-gelden Israël). Since then, the Stichting Sjoa has been making payments from the remaining one-third.